Dodd to Keep Chairmanship of Banking Committee
DODD
Norwalk Hour
Jordan Zappala
Boston University Washington News Service
11/6/08
WASHINGTON – Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., announced Thursday that he would retain his position as chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs in the 111th Congress because “our economic crisis is the center of gravity to which all our problems are being pulled.”
The senator’s statement put an end to speculation that, as the second-ranking Democrat, he would assume the chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign Relations when the current chairman, Vice President-elect Joseph Biden, leaves the Senate.
“We have been left with a terrible mess,” Dodd said at a Capitol press conference. “Unemployment is rising. Incomes are stagnating – while at the same time the cost of health care, housing, education and energy is skyrocketing.”
“Every day for the past several weeks, an average of 44 families in my state enter foreclosure – some 16,000 in all,” he continued. “Thirty-five of its workers lose their jobs. Countless men and women – in Connecticut and across the country – sit around their kitchen tables at night, worrying about what might happen next.”
Dodd highlighted several issues he would focus on as committee chairman in the next congressional session, which begins in January: oversight of bailout bill implementation, modernizing the financial structure, strengthening consumer protection and renewing the focus on national security challenges.
As many Americans have done this week, Dodd also took the time to reflect on the historic nature of the country’s presidential choice.
“Just over 40 years ago, well within our lifetimes, African-Americans as a people were excluded…from participating in our nation’s political life,” the senator said. “On Tuesday, they joined with others from across the racial, ethnic, regional, economic and ideological spectrum to elect a man who personifies the freedom, equality and opportunity that is the birthright and the hope of every American.”
The senator said he will continue to serve as a senior member of both the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee.
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